Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinence pads are devices that are typically worn in the crotch region of an undergarment. These devices are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. Sanitary napkins are a type of absorbent article worn by women in a pair of panties that is normally positioned between the wearer's legs, adjacent to the perineal area of the body.
It has been found desirable to construct absorbent articles which are thin, extensible, soft, and highly drapable. Such an extensible, flexible absorbent article is disclosed in PCT Application Publication No. 95/20931, published Aug. 10, 1995. These high levels of flexibility and drape provide comfortable products with low wearing awareness. To more effectively handle such articles, however, higher stiffness and rigidity are often required to prevent the end of the article from folding over as the article is placed into the undergarment and as the undergarment is pulled into position. The apparent contradiction of providing an absorbent article which is both flexible and stiff can be overcome by recognizing that the needs for stiffness and flexibility are not required simultaneously, but are needs which are separated in time.
Many current absorbent articles, particularly those with airfelt absorbent cores are soft and flexible when first placed in an undergarment, but become more stiff when wet. Such flexible-then stiff characteristics are seen in absorbent articles with other types of cores as well. U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,260 issued to Lemay, et al. on Dec. 20, 1994 discloses a sanitary napkin with a peat moss core which is flexible, then more stiff when moisture is absorbed. It is also known in the art to apply resilient structures to absorbent articles to impart an overall resiliency to the article or portions of the article. U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,422 issued to Davis, et al. on Mar. 24, 1992 describes such a form-retaining sanitary napkin. This form retaining resiliency, however, remains throughout the life of the sanitary napkin.
A need, therefore, exists for a disposable absorbent article which is relatively stiff when handled and applied to an undergarment, but which becomes more flexible when worn. Such an absorbent article has the advantage of being easy to handle and apply to an undergarment without the article folding over or adhering to itself while also offering the greatest comfort and low wearing awareness during subsequent wear. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, which is relatively stiff when handled and applied to an undergarment but which becomes more flexible when worn.
This and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.